Police: Child Mistakes Meth for Candy, Hospitalized in Loma Linda

A young girl was recovering Tuesday at Loma Linda Children's Hospital after police say she ate meth, thinking it was candy, according to sheriff's reports.

The incident happened around midnight Friday, at a home in the town of Joshua Tree.  Authorities found out about the girl's condition after she was taken by ambulance to the High Desert Medical Center, according to San Bernardino County Sheriff's Sergeant J. Radeleff.

"The victim was having seizures, had a severe fever, an elevated heart rate and other symptoms," Radeleff said, adding that a urine test came back positive for methamphetamine/ amphetamine.

The girl was then air-lifted to Loma Linda University Medical Center Children's Hospital "for further emergency medical treatment" in critical condition, according to the sergeant.

Through their investigation, police found out that she had "mistakenly ingested the methamphetamine thinking it was candy," Radeleff said.

Once that was determined, social services placed the parents' other three children in "a safe environment," he added.

Michelle Beamer, 30, and Johnnie Koranda, 32, were arrested on felony child endangerment charges and booked into the San Bernardino County Jail, where they remained as of Tuesday night, according to jail records.

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